AFC Phoenix
Xpert International, Xpert International
Manager: Gphoenix
It's been a bit mad lately...
There has been a lot happening at AFC Phoenix in recent weeks and it's not really been discussed due to the sheer amount of work manager Gareth Phoenix has put in since winning their division (unbeaten) just four weeks ago. We managed to catch a rare few minutes with the Englishman post match after his team kept their second Division 3e clean sheet of the new season...

Phoenix: I'm not sure where to start really. The past 4 weeks have been long and hard but now we're here they seem to have gone In the blink of an eye!

The best place to start is probably the name change and rebrand I guess. As soon as the season finished we were always going to revert back to our original name of AFC Phoenix due to the Gentlemens Practice sponsorship deal coming to an end due to their sad closure after COVID. We last sported the AFCP branding back in July 2015 for over five years prior to the GP deal.

I'd like to place on record my thanks to Gentlemens Practice for the 7 years they helped fund us. During that time we managed to win Xpert International incredibly at our first attempt. However that still remains our only silverwear although a decent last 16 exit showing in our first XCL and some incredibly unlucky cup runs falling short of a final by just one penalty kick in a shoot out.

That time has set some foundations and history that we now want to build on so ironically we move forward by moving back to our "home town" name.

So after sorting all that obviously there had to be an unforeseen transfer merry-go-round after the Change Report. Bloody hell could I have done without that but we had to be patient and scout the right people whilst selling the right players too. At the end of it me and my team are delighted at our business with a couple of young players to help uphold the future in Caj and Mason but being able to bring in Bill Pugh also who we have no doubt will hit the ground running as we try to navigate a very tough division is just great for the club.

These situations weren't the hardest job I have to stay on top of though. My main job (to me) is keeping this squad grounded and focused.

After we lost in the cup last season (our only loss in the last 28 games I should add) we needed to ensure it didn't affect them and then the league form suffer also. In fact they picked me up after that loss and have won all 12 games since. The "Bouncebackability" of these boys keeps surprising me. I say boys, we're still a young team but they've played like experienced men in so many games.

This new season comes with new challenges as always and we find ourselves in a very tough division 3e with a lot of strong teams. We've started well with two wins and no goals conceded but it's work as usual as we only focus on one game at a time.

We're not invincible and we'll lose games this season. It's about the manner of those losses, ensuring we give our best every single game and maintaining that "Bouncebackability" mentality.

2022-10-11 23:39 1459 Views Reporter: TonyBrazil

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